Am I Finished?

Am I finished with this painting? I think I am. It's hard sometimes to know when to quit, when that one more step would be one too much. And If you go that step too far you often can't take it back. This painting was somewhat of a problem child. It's 8"x10" and I once again discovered that using Linda Baker's technique on a painting this small creates problems. It's hard to get a clean line with the masking fluid. On this particular painting I actually added too much paint in one step and due to the small surface I couldn't control the mixing. The paint over-mixed and turned into an ugly brown. Which meant I had to add a lot of color after the masking fluid was removed so I wouldn't have a basic brown painting. And "brown" is not me. It might be fine for the pinecones I plan to do, but I was going for color this time. (Have I mentioned more than a few hundred times how much I like color?)

The past week has been quite a productive one for me. And tomorrow I get to start a new project. I've finished all of my old ones and it is quite liberating. Of course, now I need to catch up on house cleaning. But that can wait until the weekend. Retirement means I can do things in reverse if I want. So I do. So there.

 

Joy Journal: Two days of bitter cold winter temperatures and now back to the 60s. Love me some warm.

I'm Ernie and I'm a Workshopaholic

I absolutely adore going to workshops and learning new techniques and doing new projects and being around other creative people. The photo above is of a kimono-inspired pendant I made in a workshop this weekend with Karen Woods at Creative Journey Studios. We learned to make our own screens for silk screening and then used the screens to print on polymer clay. We made several sheets of polymer clay in all different colors and with different designs (sometimes 2) screen printed on them (I made 8 different sheets). Then we cut them up and reassembled them to make whatever we wanted. I chose to make a pendant in the same style as those made by the instructor and I really, really like it. It isn't finished yet - I know, I know, "finish" is my word this year - but this time I have a good reason. The bail I ordered to use with it hasn't come yet so I can't finish it until the bail comes. I have enough printed polymer clay left over to do at least two more small projects and maybe more. And every pendant needs a coordinating (not matching, coordinating) pair of earrings, right?

But you know, as much I love the learning and the making of the project, I love being around creative people even more. I love the electricity that is in the air when we gather and play with ideas and the conversations include "Does this look better this way?" and the "Wow, that is gorgeous, I'm going to have to try that." I love the moments when someone says something silly and we all simultaneously get the helpless giggles. I love the feeling when the lightbulb over my head goes on because now, yes, finally, I see what the teacher means. That's why that happens, because I did such and such. I love the way one idea feeds off of another one and we learn things even the teacher didn't expect. I'm signed up for another workshop at the end of March and that seems much too far off. Now I'm off to catch up on my sleep. I actually had to get up early two mornings in a row!!

 

Joy Journal: A beautiful redbird just outside my window

Inspiration

I paint my paintings, make my jewelry, play with my polymer clay and I think I've made something beautiful. Then I see what nature produces and I realize my efforts pale in comparison. But it also inspires me to keep trying, to keep adding my little touch of beauty to the world.

The beautiful pink and white camellias (they are more pink than in the photo) immediately catch your eye when you look out into the back yard. Together with the early blooming daffodils, they brighten an otherwise grey landscape. Winter is my least favorite time of year, but beauty like this makes it bearable. I wish I had three or four more of these gorgeous plants.
When real spring gets here Saint Gene and I are going to try our hand at air-layering on this plant to see if we can't get them. It's a new technique for us, another addition to our gardening knowledge.

 

Joy Journal: A great nap

What a Lovely Spring We're Having!

No, wait! It's February. It's not spring yet. But my daffodils don't seem to know it, some of the flowering trees are forming little buds. The goldfish in our water feature are confused, they seem to know they should be in a kind of hibernation mode right now. And the camellias, oh the gorgeous camellias. I am LOVING it. Today was such a gorgeous day. Saint Gene went out to do a little geocaching using the iPhone app I gave him for Christmas (what a bargain that present was - $1.99!!!!!) and came home just euphoric about how wonderful the weather was and that he was able to find a well-hidden cache. And right how he's flying even higher. The Giants won the Super Bowl and he's a big Eli Manning fan.

So what does the picture above have to do with all of this? Nothing. I just like it. It's a little enameled copper lizard I bought at a craft fair some years ago and it makes me smile every time I see it.


Joy Journal: Microwave popcorn

I Just Have to Brag a Little Bit

I know that most of you who read my blog have already seen this but I just have to brag a little bit anyway. My Paintings are featured here: Creative Catalyst Productions. I don't know how they found my little blog, but they contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if they could use my paintings on their company blog. I was delighted to say yes and I'm delighted about the blog post. I never mentioned it to anyone except Saint Gene because I didn't believe it would really happen. But it did!!!!!!!

Most artists want an audience for their work. Yes, we do it primarily for ourselves, but it's always more fun when you can share it. And since I am not a big name artist, I have limited avenues for sharing. I have no idea how many people will see CCP's blog post but then I don't have any idea how CCP found me! But it doesn't matter. My paintings are out there and I hope they are being enjoyed. And the joy of seeing my paintings on their blog has left me floating on cloud nine.

 

Joy Journal: Affirmation!

Ready, Set, Go

Getting ready to start a new painting. Going to do another "let the colors go where they will" for this one. You can probably see that this is a bunch of padlocks, drawn from a photo, and padlocks don't have to be any particular color. So, in my continuing quest to loosen up a bit, I'm going to relinquish a little control. And that is not easy for me. But Linda Baker's technique is perfect for me. It gives me control if i want it and looseness if I want it. This new painting is 8"x10" and since I am still learning as I go, I make no promises. But it should be fun. I've got my supplies assembled, the design decided on and now I'm ready to go. Yes, I will use more paints than the ones in the photo, but those are just for starters. And I will actually start by masking off some areas that need to stay very light. But I find even the masking off process to be fun. Yeah, I'm strange. You're not the first person to think that. But I took a workshop a few years ago from a polymer clay artist, Dan Cormier, and one of the most important things I learned in his workshop was that you have to enjoy the process as well as the finished product. If you rush through the process, never taking the time to enjoy it, then you might as well go out and buy the finished product rather than do it yourself. The quality of the effort you put into the process directly affects the quality of the finished product. Those were not his exact words, of course, but they convey his message. If I don't enjoy the doing, the actual process of making, then why bother? And he's right. So I have forced myself to slow down and take care with each step of the process. And I am now enjoying the process and the finished projects are much better and my level of satisfaction is much higher. And I'm loving my paintings as a result.

 

Joy Journal: Sleeping late

The Bear Necessities

Few of you have met Saint Gene so you wouldn't know that even though he IS a saint, he is also very much crazy. The picture above speaks volumes about the man. This, gentle reader, is the phone in my husband's man cave. Yes, this teddy bear is a phone. A speaker phone. And an animated phone. The mouth opens and closes as the caller talks. And it's as big as it looks like it is. And he loves it. You now have proof that he's crazy. As I've said before, we are a perfect match (except for the saint part - so NOT me).

Joy Journal: My mother smiled at me. First time in a long time.

Identity Crisis

See any tomatoes in the picture above? Hmmm. Me neither. Yet the tag plainly says these should be Baxter Early cherry tomatoes. Seems we might have an identity crisis here. As you might guess, this tag is a leftover from the gardening season. At one time there were little cherry tomatoes here, but that season is long over. However, a pot about 2 feet away from this one had a rather sparse display of Johnny Jump-Ups. We were disappointed in the planting but didn't bother to pull them up. Now we have Johnny Jump-ups blooming beautifully and abundantly in all of the pots that were anywhere near the original plants. Even some in pots that were 10 feet away. Johnny Jump-Ups are like morning glories, they self-seed like crazy. We didn't expect they would do that in our case because the production from the seeds we planted was so sparse and spindly. Seems as though we planted them at the wrong time and now with the unusually warm winter we're having, they have produced a second generation of plants that are delighting us daily. And I know that this generation will also self-seed and we'll have beautiful little happy faced plants all over everywhere, in every flower bed and even in the grass. And I say, "YES!! - Go for it little beauties. Join your friends the wild violets and bloom your little hearts out."

 

Joy Journal: A comfortable sweatshirt and cool air.

Old and New Combined

Applied an old bead style (rolled paper beads) to a new technique I learned today at my polymer guild meeting and came up with some polymer beads I really like. Of course, they aren't nearly as big as the photo would make you think and this isn't the greatest photo of them either, the longest bead measures about 1 inch, but the bright jewel colors on the gold background really speak to the "ooh sparkly" part of me. And "ooh sparkly" is a large part of me!! It was great fun getting to spend some quality time with other creative people who are also fun and easy to be around. Wish I lived closer so we could get together more frequently. But today was a good day, relaxing, fun and even productive! Now to go play with the remaining polymer.

 

Joy Journal: A really funny joke.

Feast or Famine, Drought or Flood

We've been under drought conditions for many months with the deficit in the Atlanta area being around 11" (if I remember correctly). It felt this morning like we were going to make it all up in just a few hours! Our nice, peaceful little creek turned not so nice and peaceful this morning. It's hard to get the scale from the above photo but trust me, that is a serious amount of water you're seeing. There is normally a nice, scenic little cascade in that spot that is beautiful and melodic, great for sitting in the swing and watching. Not today. I know, in the grand scheme of floods this isn't even a blip on the radar. But it's unusual for us and since it doesn't threaten the house in the least, it's fun to watch.

Joy Journal: Deciding on my next painting subject.

Last One (for awhile)

Promise, I won't make you endure another painting for awhile. At least for a week or so. It'll take me that long to get another one finished. (Gotcha!)

This is the completed uncompleted painting I talked about in my last post. It is now completely completed and ready to be framed. But since framing would bankrupt my 401K, framing won't happen for awhile. Until I can afford framing, the painting resides safely inside my portfolio. I spotted the old truck behind a chain link fence one day when I was out on a photo shoot and just had to get a picture of it. Since the gate that went inside the fence was unlocked and standing partially open I went in and made myself at home for a few minutes. The property was a car junkyard, not a private home, and I didn't have any evil intentions so I felt ok about doing that. I love both the resulting photographs and the painting. Kinko's did a great job scanning it even if I did have to wait on it - no instant gratification on the scan job. I was a little nervous about possible damage to the painting when I found out that it is run over a roller to be scanned unlike using a flatbed scanner, but it came through in great condition. I'm so glad I was introduced to Linda Baker's DVD. Fluid acrylics don't EXACTLY correspond to watercolors but it isn't that difficult to make the change from one to the other.

Now off to start on my newest new project since my old new project is finished!

Joy Journal: Saint Gene having fun with his Christmas present from me.

One Word - 2012 Edition

No, I did not take the above photo, it's from the internet. But it explains my "One Word" so well.

I've decided to make "Finish" my "One Word" for 2012.

From dictionary.com:

verb (used with object)
1. to bring (something) to an end or to completion; complete: to finish a novel; to finish breakfast.
A little background, in case you need it - Someone somewhere started the "One Word" thing (I don't know what else to call it) some years back and it consists of choosing one word that you want to incorporate as part of your life for the coming year. So for 2012 my word is "Finish."

Now you may be wondering why that particular word. Well, you see, I have a tendency, a very strong tendency, to start lots of projects and never finish them. That's one of the reasons my studio needed such a major decluttering. I get excited about starting something new, about learning a new process or technique, about the possibilities of something new. And then after I've worked on the new thing for awhile, some other new project catches my interest and if the original project isn't finished, well, I'm still ready to be finished with it. So the original project goes on a back burner, "I'll finish that next week", and a new project gets started. But the original project gets forgotten, the "new" project loses that initial spark and, lo and behold, a new new project gets started. And now there are two unfinished projects waiting for my attention.

So I'm turning over a "new" leaf on "old" projects. No more new ones until some of the old ones get finished. Yesterday I put the finishing touches on a painting that was so close to finished that it was sad. But it had hung on the wall (by a clip, not framed) while I started the clothespin painting. In the spirit of my new word, I completely finished the clothespin painting, completely finished it, scanned it in and got it stashed away, then took the old truck painting and completely finished it. Now I'm finishing another almost finished painting and will have it done by tomorrow morning. Yes, I have a new painting all lined up and ready to start. But it will have to wait. I have to finish what I've already started.



Joy Journal: Comfortable sweat pants

Okay, Here's the Latest

My time off from blogging, interneting, etc. turned out to be more necessary (and longer) than I had anticipated. Life never stands still does it.

But I did get some things done, like the painting shown above. It's only 8" x 8" but I intend to paint a similar one in a larger size. This painting is based on a photograph and, again, uses the technique taught by Linda Baker (on DVD). You may not be able to see the similarities of the technique from my earlier painting to this one, but they are definitely the same. The earlier painting had a much more controlled color placement, this one just let the color happen where it wanted to. I used Golden Fluid Acrylics and Derwent Inktense Pencils, using both as though they were watercolors. I'm having a really fun time with these but am going through masking fluid like crazy! I have two more paintings finished but need to get over to Kinkos to have them scanned in since they are 15" x 15" and won't fit on my scanner. Learning that Kinkos can scan larger things was great since I definitely want a digital record of my paintings.

It's good to be back blogging but I still won't be here every day. My poor camera thinks I've forgotten it. But I'm officially back and glad to welcome you back to my home on the internet.

 

Joy Journal: Saint Gene, always

Return Delayed

My mother has had a mini-stroke and we are still dealing with this development. While we know that she will never get better, she is under Hospice care after all, it is really heartbreaking to see her condition deteriorate. I will be back but it may be a few more days.

 

Joy Journal: A new painting that is coming along well.

Vacation

I didn't realize it myself for a few days, but now I know that I am on a blogging and internet vacation. My brain's supply of ideas has dried up and the inspiration isn't coming. So I'm going to just sit back and recharge the old (literally) batteries. Gonna play with my toys rather than the computer. Gonna get paint under my fingernails and glitter on my nose and maybe even make a book or some cookies!!

See you again after Christmas.

 

Joy Journal: Cranberry Walnut Breakfast Bread